Dschinghis Khan

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Dschinghis Khan

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Dschinghis Khan (known in some countries as Genghis Khan) is a German pop band originally formed in Munich in 1979 to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest with their song "Dschinghis Khan", which was written and produced by Ralph Siegel with lyrics by Bernd Meinunger.

The band was formed and managed by Ralph Siegel.

The only native Germans in the group were the bald-headed Karl-Heinz "Steve" Bender, and Wolfgang Heichel, who brought his Dutch-born wife Henriette (born Strobel) with him. Louis Hendrik Potgieter, the impersonator of Genghis Khan, was South African. Edina Pop (Marika Késmárky) was a Hungarian who had started her singing career in West Germany in 1969, while Leslie Mándoki had fled communism in 1975.

In 1980, their single "Moscow" (the English-language version of "Moskau") topped the charts in Australia and remained No. 1 for six weeks. Its success there had much to do with the Seven Network's use of the song as the theme music for their television coverage of the 1980 Summer Olympics. The Australian single was issued in a die-cut Channel 7 sleeve.

In an interview with Russian television presenter Alexandra Glotova, the producer of the group Dschinghis Khan, Heinz Gross, said that in the 1980s, the band was forbidden in the Soviet Union and was accused of anti-communism and nationalism.

While the group broke up in the mid-1980s, the German video for "Moskau" was a part of the show Disco on ZDF, as was the similarly-staged "Dschinghis Khan".

1986 saw a brief reunion as Dschinghis Khan Family. Only Henriette Heichel (vocals), Leslie Mándoki (drums) and Louis Potgieter (keyboards) returned from the original lineup. The song "Wir gehör'n zusammen" led them to a national qualifying round of the Eurovision Song Contest, where they finished in second place.

In 1988, Leslie Mándoki and Éva Csepregi, the vocalist of Hungarian pop group Neoton Família, sang the song "Korea" on the opening of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

Dancer and front man Louis Potgieter died of AIDS in 1993, while singer Karl-Heinz "Steve" Bender died from cancer in 2006.

Dschinghis Khan - Dschinghis Khan

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Dschinghis Khan (English translation: "Genghis Khan") was the West German entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979, performed in German by Dschinghis Khan. Cover versions by a number of other artists were subsequently released as singles and album tracks.

Dschinghis Khan - Moskau

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Moskau" is a German-language single by the German pop-act Dschinghis Khan (known as Genghis Khan in Australia and other countries[5][6][7][8]) released in 1979. There was also an English-language version released in 1980 which was entitled "Moscow".